M’tucci’s Twenty-Five – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“The best ingredient I discovered in America was ‘freedom.’ The freedom to experiment in the kitchen and the freedom to be open to those experiments in the dining room.” ~Massimo Bottura, Osteria Francescana Chef and Owner Adesso basta! I’ve had it with the haughty pedantry of my Air Force comrades-in-arms who were blessed to have been stationed in La Bele Paese and to have dined on its incomparable dishes. They’re oh-so-quick to vilify Italian-American cuisine, calling it an inauthentic parody of the madrepatria‘s sacrosanct and sublime cuisine. They’re even quicker to criticize my devotion to such Italian-American restaurants as Joe’s Pasta House. I know damn well that the Italian-American cuisine millions of us enjoy might not be recognized in all…